I first heard about LMI during a presentation at my church three years ago. The more I heard about it, the more I wanted to see for myself of how this kind of school for young women was being run and if the success stories were flukes or the natural outcome of the work being done there. From the moment our van approached their welcome committee I knew I was in for quite a ride. The welcome committee was the staff and the entire student body of forty-nine who flooded us with warm hugs & hellos! They were genuinely excited to have us there. Each young woman wanted to tell me her name and wanted me to tell them mine- it was overwhelming at first, since there were forty-nine of them and only eight of us, and I didn’t know who they were yet…

The rectangular dining tables at meal times were great- they gave us opportunities to sit in small groups, to get to know the young women and laugh with them, even about how we had difficulty pronouncing & remembering their Honduran names and for them to pronounce mine. Each young woman I met was so full of energy, even the quiet ones who hung back with bright eyes while they listened to their more vocal classmates ask a question or tell me about themselves. I received so much warmth & encouragement from them that I’m not sure who was ministering to who. Sitting in on the first year English classes then going to the second year Business, Organizational Leadership and Community Development classes conducted in English, just blew me away! They had gone from learning the basics of English language sentence structure and pronunciation to reading and understanding articles for their class discussions, all in English, in just one year! I loved it that the second year classes are set up to teach them critical thinking and about community development. These young women seem to already be keenly aware about the opportunity they were given and had a desire to give back. Perhaps it’s because of LMI’s selection process, perhaps it’s the environment of LMI or perhaps what they are learning in the classroom- it’s most likely a combination of all three. It also sounded like the team & individual community projects, that are a part of the second year curriculum, are giving them hands-on practical experience. 

Honduras is a developing nation with high poverty & crime rates especially of violent crimes against women. God is surely using LMI as one means to impact Honduras by training up young women to lead and impact whatever communities they choose to be a part of in Honduras. It is an ambitious dream but as I reflect on what I witnessed and had the privilege of being a part of for a short eight days, LMI is doing it! There is a potential for more growth and each year LMI is enlarging the capacity for the incoming class. I’m already looking forward to my next visit, to hear more alumni stories and to see how each student, whose name I’ve come to learn, has grown and the changes on campus. -HJ